


Lost Below the Waves

by Rayvee



Series: Scattered Across the Map [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst, Death loop, Dragon!Impulse, Gen, Guardian!Impulse, Hurt/Comfort, Impulse in particular has a completely terrible time, It Makes Sense in Context, Part-Ghast!Tango, Scattered AU, Sheep!Zedaph, Team ZIT, Temporary Character Death, The Hermits go to Season 8 and then things go Very Wrong, actually no it doesn't, yes both at the same time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29798238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayvee/pseuds/Rayvee
Summary: Something had gone wrong.When they made the jump to Season 8, Zedaph hadn't expected to be stranded, alone, in the middle of a jungle.When they made the jump to Season 8, Tango wasn't prepared for being left, helpless, as he watched his friends die over and over.When they made the jump to Season 8, Impulse didn't expect to be locked in a death loop, deep inside an ocean monument.One that's never going to let him escape unscathed.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Tango Tek & Zedaph (Video Blogging RPF), impulseSV & Tango Tek & Zedaph (Video Blogging RPF), impulseSV & Tango Tek (Video Blogging RPF), impulseSV & Zedaph (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Scattered Across the Map [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2190273
Comments: 15
Kudos: 50





	1. Day One

Something had gone wrong.  
Impulse didn’t need to be an admin to figure that out- he knew the moment he felt cool water on his skin, and saw prismarine all around him. He was in an ocean monument, and there was no sign of the other hermits.  
Well. This wasn’t good.  
A guardian swam over, its eye trained on the player. Impulse had no armour, no weapons, no potions to protect him from the aquatic mob. He braced himself as the laser struck his chest.  
Ow. Ow ow ow ow  _ ow.  _ Impulse had forgotten how much a guardian’s laser actually  _ hurt.  
_ _ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic. _

Water. Prismarine. A guardian, wandering off.  
Impulse ducked behind a pillar before it saw him. Several decidedly _not_ family-friendly words drifted through his brain. Not good. This was not good. _ <ImpulseSV> ive spawned in ocean temmple help[  
_ **_ERROR  
_ ** Oh. No. No no no no no not good not good not good he was  _ screwed-  
_ _ ImpulseSV drowned. _

Right. Okay. He just had to… get out of here. With no tools, no resources, limited time, past an ungodly amount of guardians...  
A glowing red eye flashed in front of his face, before the hallucination faded.  
...And mining fatigue.  
_ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic. _

Impulse started swimming. His lungs were already sore from constantly having to hold his breath, he had to constantly duck past guardians, he had no idea where he was going and no way to break out aside from his own two fists…  
A glowing red eye appeared in his peripheral vision, and a bolt of electricity exploded along his side.  
_ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic.  
_ He kept trying.  
_ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic.  
_ _ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic.  
_ _ ImpulseSV drowned.  
_ _ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic.  
_ _ ImpulseSV drowned running away from Guardian.  
_ _ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic.  
_ _ Impulse SV drowned.  
_ _ ImpulseSV was slain by Elder Guardian using magic.  
_ He wasn’t going to get out of here.  
But he kept trying.

* * *

Something had gone wrong.  
At least, Tango was pretty sure that was what had happened.  
“Guys?” he called, growing worried when he heard no answer. “Zed? Impulse? Anyone?”  
The only response he got was the chirp of a parrot and the sound of wind in the leaves.  
Well then. Okay. He was… alone. In a jungle.   
He pulled out his communicator. Where were the others? Had he wound up in a singleplayer world by mistake?   
No. In fact, there were  _ more  _ names on the player list than he’d expected. As well as the hermits, there was also Evil Xisuma and Helsknight (were  _ they  _ the reason he couldn’t find anyone? Had they done something?), somebody named HesitateVS (which sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on  _ why _ ), and two names that had glitched out to the point of illegibility.  
_ <TangoTek> Hey guys? Where are you? What’s going on?  
_ **_ERROR  
_ ** _ ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using Magic.  
_ ...Yup. Something had _definitely_ gone wrong.

* * *

_ /tp ImpulseSV TangoTek  
_ **_ERROR  
_ ** He wasn’t  _ surprised,  _ exactly, but he still felt his shoulders slump. Technically, he was only supposed to use his operating permissions unless it was an emergency, but Tango would argue that multiple people being caught in death loops was an emergency...   
_ Xisuma was slain by Warden  
BDoubleO100 fell out of this world  
_ ...And he was pretty sure the others would agree.  
Finally deciding he wasn’t getting anywhere, he stored his communicator away. Well, if he couldn’t bring Impulse to him, he’d have to go to Impulse.  
Even if he had no idea where he was.  
Or where Impulse was.  
Or where anyone was, really.  
_ TangoTek earned the advancement [Getting Wood] _

* * *

Something had gone wrong.  
But it was  _ fine.  
_ ...Probably.

Zedaph had spawned in a jungle, with no knowledge where anyone else was, where he was, and, as far as he could tell, no way of finding anyone else. Messages didn’t send in chat, and clearly commands weren’t working because Impulse had died three times already and Grian had died once and that was honestly really concerning but Zedaph wasn’t sure how he could do anything if he didn’t even know where anyone else  _ was,  _ so he was going to have to make a small base and get some food and figure out where to go from there.  
It was fine. He was fine. He absolutely didn’t feel like he was having small pointy objects shoved into his chest every time his communicator chimed with another death message.  
(There were advancement messages too, which meant that some people, at least, were okay; Zedaph had almost started crying with relief when he saw Tango had gotten wood.)  
And even if EX and Hels were running around somewhere (and whoever HesitateVS was wait VS SV was Helspulse here or what and if so where and what was he like Zed had always wondered what an Evil version of Impulse was like and was he actually that bad or was he just misunderstood like Exy or...) it was probably fine actually no wait Impulse was in a death loop so nevermind nothing was fine everything was terrible but he had no idea what to do or how to help.  
Zedaph’s brain was going around in circles, which meant he should probably do something more mentally stimulating than punching trees and actually get something done.

_ Okay, Zed, you can do this. Step one: get wood, check. Step two: build a shelter, but that can probably wait a bit. Step three: find food, because dying of starvation is terrible and you don’t need to worry the others any more than they already probably are.  
_ So with the vague outline of a plan in mind, Zedaph set out in search of food. Probably melons. Melons grew near riverbanks, right? He pricked his ears for the sound of rushing water.  
There! Somewhere behind him, off to the right. Water would be good whether he found melons or not, and it was probably easier than trying to navigate the general jungle. And if he stuck to the river, it would be easier to find his way around. Probably. Assuming nothing went wrong. More wrong than it already was.  
He was  _ fine. _

* * *

How long was he going to be down here?  
Everything was blue, blue, turquoise and blue, and Impulse was starting to go crazy. How long had he been down here? He checked on his communicator.   
About six hours. He was already starting to lose his mind, and he hated this he hated prismarine he hated sea lanterns he hated guardians he hated water. His lungs were raw, his limbs were heavy, but he kept crawling his way through this underwater hellhole only to be lasered to death by one of those godforsaken guardians and he would gladly give up all his redstone knowledge if it meant he never had to see another ocean monument again.

Drowning. Respawn.  
He kept going, because what else was he going to do?

_ Y̵̠̓ù̶̹͔͉͛͘ģ̴̰̚v̴͈̰͉̯̜͌̐̀v̵̰̑̎͜b̸̻̼̜̒̾̆͆́ē̶͖͘ͅi̷̛̟̩̅͠c̶̦̫̰̪͂̏͐̚p̵͎̏̈́̈́͌ fell from a high place. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.  
> Apparently I like giving myself big writing projects.  
>  _Why._
> 
> Anyway! Credit to this AU goes to @hermitcraftheadcanons on Tumblr; they ran the Scattered AU a while back. And then it ended, and my brain didn't get the memo, because I'm apparently planning _multiple_ multichapter fics, all of which will focus on a different group as they get together and make their way to True Spawn.  
> That said, hopefully you won't need that context to read this! Hopefully I'm a competent enough writer. Hopefully.
> 
> This one's for Team ZIT! Zedaph's barely holding back panicking, Tango's not doing much better, and Impulse is just Suffering. I'm sorry, Impulse. It's...not gonna get any better anytime soon.


	2. Day 7

Zedaph grinned as he stepped back to admire his creation, a horribly inefficient melon farm. Technically, he didn’t _need_ to redstone up a melon farm week one, and it was probably a terrible idea considering how limited he was on resources, but building one of his beloved contraptions that were inefficient to the nth degree made him feel a bit better, like he could control _something,_ like this season could actually be a normal season and everything would be okay.

And if someone else stumbled across it (please, _please_ let someone stumble across it) they’d know that _hey, there’s someone here_ and _it’s Zedaph_ and _he’s okay_ and maybe _if they wait, he’ll return and they won’t be alone…_ or something like that. Maybe. Hopefully. If he was lucky. Very lucky. Extremely lucky, because really, it was a big world and people were scattered all across it and people were probably focusing on the people trapped in the death loops which was fine, because the regular, incessant chime signalling a hermit’s death was so so awful in so many ways, and he wanted Impulse and Grian and Bdubs and the rest to just _be okay,_ but he didn’t know _how_ to fix anything, this wasn’t just a simple redstone problem, and some people-  
_TinFoilChef was slain by the Ender Dragon  
_ -And some people weren’t even in the _Overworld,_ for crying out loud!  
(Unless the _Ender Dragon_ was in the Overworld, which. No, nope, bad, _not an option_ ).   
He was spiralling. That was bad. Spiralling wouldn’t help anyone. Especially not himself.  
What did you do when you were lost? Stayed put until someone found you? Make a signal? Zedaph could do that. He could build a tower to build height, and maybe put a campfire on top? To make it more visible? Should he add a hay bale underneath? He’d found some wheat seeds…  
Okay. He could do this. Build an ugly pillar, make it produce smoke. That was a plan. He could start from the top of one of the really tall jungle trees. That way he’d have to build less!  
Who said Zedaph couldn’t do anything efficiently? He just… didn’t. By _choice_.

* * *

Tango wasn’t sure where he was going, but it felt important to move, to keep moving, because he wasn’t going to achieve anything by staying put. He was living off the land, basically, eating melons, and cocoa beans (which tasted pretty terrible on their own), and the occasional pork chop (cooked when he stopped for the night). He didn’t really have a plan, he just picked a direction and walked. And walked. And walked.  
He was getting really tired of walking. He’d been counting the days, and had been walking for a full week. A week. Through the jungle.  
The jungle was not a place one wanted to spend a full week walking through.

Heat didn’t bother Tango- it never had- but humidity certainly did. Growing up in the Nether, he’d been acclimatized to the _dry_ heat of the dimension. Even now, having lived in the Overworld for decades, it still surprised him how _damp_ the atmosphere could get.  
He muttered a curse as he stumbled over a fallen branch. That was another thing about the jungle- there were leaves and logs and vines and foliage constantly getting in the way. He missed his elytra.

Sometimes he just wanted to set things on fire. The jungle was one of those things. But either firetick was off, in which case there’d be no point, or it was on, in which case it would be a _very bad idea_ to set such dense plantlife alight.

He grumbled as he pulled his boot out of a tangle of vines. He had to keep walking.

* * *

Water. Water was awful. Water was rapidly becoming Impulse’s least favourite liquid. Water was already Impulse’s least favourite liquid. His favourite gas was oxygen. Oxygen. He needed oxygen.  
Impulse was going crazy. Impulse knew he was going crazy. Impulse felt he was perfectly justified in going crazy because he’d already spent _way too long_ down here.  
Oh, look, a guardian. Guardians were Impulse’s least favourite mob. His favourite was literally everything else. He wished he could find literally anything else.

_ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic._

Water. Water sucked.  
Impulse needed to stop thinking in the third person.

* * *

Zedaph’s communicator buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket, already knowing what he’d find.

_ImpulseSV was slain by Guardian using magic._

Again.  
He hesitated, then fiddled with the settings so it would only buzz if someone earned an advancement or sent an actual message. On the off-chance that happened.   
He continued to build up his exceedingly ugly tower.

* * *

_Aaand build height, aaand down, aaand platform, aaand hay bale, aaand campfire, aaand… crap. Forgot to bring a water bucket. Good work, Zed. Very clever.  
_ He sighed, and peeked over the edge. The river was down there, burbling quietly. Burbling. That was a good word. It was fun to say. Burbling. He could make it, right? Land in the water? Maybe. Well, worst-case scenario, he could find his way back… probably. Maybe. Eventually. Hopefully beds worked.   
He jumped.  
He was going to make it, he was going to make it… _branch!_

_Zedaph fell from a high place._

* * *

Tango stared at the latest death, as if it would give him any answers. He felt faintly sick.  
_He’s okay,_ he told himself, _he’s been getting regular advancements. This was just… a fluke. A mistake. Zedaph being clumsy.  
_He couldn’t relax.

_ImpulseSV drowned._

And that was why.  
_He’ll be okay. He has to be. Zedaph, do you hear me? Be okay. Please.  
_ _I can’t handle anyone else being trapped in a death loop._

* * *

The good news: beds did, in fact, work.  
The bad news: most of Zedaph’s stuff was stuck in the treetops.

Retrieving a stack of wood from one of his chests, Zedaph began the awkward maneuver of extracting his gear from the trees.   
After two near-falls, one _actual_ fall (into the river), one twig almost stabbing his eye out and three cases of vines getting tangled around his horns, Zedaph managed to collect everything. He couldn’t help but feel relieved when he got back down to solid ground; he’d had enough of heights for one day.  
Time to go mining.

* * *

_Water water water everything was water everywhere was water his muscles were water his lungs were water he was water water water prismarine water._ He saw... something. A shape. Not a guardian. Thank goodness, not a guardian. A human. A _player._

A name came to mind, filtering through the blue haze. Etho. Etho was here. Etho was fiddling with his communicator. Why? Didn't he know they didn't work?  
Etho looked up, made eye contact with Impulse. Impulse saw his jaw move, as if he was speaking. They were underwater. Etho wore a mask.  
Bubbles rose towards the ceiling, shining, precious jewels. 

_EthosLab drowned._

_ImpulseSV drowned._

_Q̶̮̼̞͚̤̖̆̔̎h̸̘̊͛̄̇̂͠ḽ̶̛̝̳̫̐̈́̕͠͝ą̸͍̽q̴̛̦͚͒t̶̩͎̖̎̽v̷̖̲͉̹͖͑̅̈́ fell from a high place running away from Phantom._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know things have gone south when _Zedaph_ has the Team ZITS braincell.
> 
> Speaking of which: here, Zedaph is a sheep hybrid, and Tango's from the Nether (haven't hammered out the specifics for that, but it'll probably be somewhere along the lines of minor pyrokinesis and that's it. Maybe he's got some Blaze or Ghast heritage, I haven't quite decided yet. Actually, part-Ghast!Tango sounds cool, let's go with that). Inhuman characters are _fun._
> 
> Impulse really isn't doing too hot, huh. Maybe Etho will be able to help before Impy completely loses it.  
> Somebody help him.


End file.
